Twenty-five years ago today, a most unlikely pair of movie stars debuted in American theaters, playing an even more unlikely pair of movie characters. Only once before had anyone tried to make a movie out of a Saturday Night Live sketch — The Blues Brothers in 1980 — and the basic cable antics of Wayne Campbell (Mike Meyers) and Garth Algar (Dana Carvey) didn’t seem particularly cinematic. But on Valentine’s Day 1992, Wayne’s World debuted to huge success. Its $121 domestic was good for the 8th highest-grossing film of the year.

It is by FAR the most successful movie ever made from an SNL sketch (there have been 11 so far). On a purely financial level, it’s the best of the bunch. But that often obscures the fact that it’s also the best of the bunch because it is a damned good comedy. So on this occasion of its 25th anniversary, here are 25 reasons why Wayne’s World is great.

1. Steve! Wayne’s World is full of recognizable faces and familiar actors, but the first one who made me help was Steve the White House press corps reporter from The West Wing as the guy whose vacuum cleaner could both suck and blow.

2. Queen. I’m always surprised how quickly we get to the “Bohemian Rhapsody” scene. It’s in the first 5 minutes. It’s also insane to think about how much Wayne’s World vaulted that song back into the national zeitgeist. It was all over radio, ultimately reaching #2 (!!) on the Billboard Hot 100. VH1 aired a music video cut with footage from Wayne’s World (which then won an MTV Video Music Award for Best Video from a Film).

3. Ione Skye. The star of Say Anything, who faded into obscurity after that, shows up very briefly but in a pivotal role. She’s the woman in bed with Rob Lowe who turns him on to the cable-access charms of “Wayne’s World.”

4. Ed O’Neil. The Married with Children star plays the owner of the diner who momentarily commandeers the camera for a monologue about killing in the heat of passion, before Wayne takes the camera back. It’s the first of many instances of Wayne’s World playing with the fourth wall, and it’s very funny.

5. The gun rack bit. Damn it, it still works. Are you mental?

6. Tia Carrere as Rock Goddess. She looks the part, and honestly? Her version of “Ballroom Blitz” KILLS.

7. Wayne Campbell: Woke Bro. Wayne sees Cassandra’s babe-ness right away, but it’s not until he sees her kicking literal ass in a crowd of drunk rock-club dudes that he truly falls in love. Here’s to strong women!

8. The Grey Poupon joke. Dated as hell, but now an odd artifact.

9. Rob Lowe’s career-reviving performance. In 1992, Lowe was a scandal-plagued former Brat Pack-er who had faded almost completely from view. Wayne’s World resurrected him as a corporatist douche (a role that Tommy Boy would copy for him), beginning the road to redemption that would ultimately lead him to The West Wing, Parks and Recreation, and beyond.

10. Garth’s giant tropical drink in the deal-making scene.

11. The airport scene. It’s never going to make the highlight reel for this movie, but the scene of best friends Wayne and Garth hanging out by the airport, screaming as a jet thunders down over them, then laughing hysterically, is such a beautiful little encapsulation of small-town friendship. It’s honestly rather touching, and it’s more than a movie like Wayne’s World usually gets.

12. Game on! Similarly, the scene with Wayne and Garth play hockey in the street and keep having to move the net out of the way of passing traffic, is both wonderfully true to life and also emblematic of the characters’ arrested adolescence. See, director Penelope Spheeris knew what she was doing.

13.Lara Flynn Boyle. This was really her first cash-in performance after Twin Peaks, and it’s a majorly thankless role as the girl Wayne doesn’t want. But she really commits to it and sells every pathetic moment. Kudos.

14. Discman! The CD player in Wayne’s car — that he buys after he and Garth sell out to Rob Lowe — is treated as the height of luxury. It’s not even installed! It’s literally sitting atop the dash and plugged in. 1992, man.

15. The product placement scene. Why try to get around the fact that product placement, while awkward, helps get your dumb little movie made. Wayne’s World decided to drive right through, with brazen appeals to Pepsi, Pizza Hut, Doritos, and, in the best bit, Nuprin: little, yellow, different.

16. “Foxy Lady.” Even though it’s almost a thorough shedding of the Garth character so that Dana Carvey can do a comedy bit more suited to one of his stand-up specials.

17. The interior decor of Cassandra’s bedroom. Let’s discuss this for one second. Try to ignore half-naked Wayne in the shots below and instead focus on the extreme harem layout of this place.

The draped fabrics! The hanging tassels! There’s a clarinet on her nightstand. There is A MUMMY in the far corner of the room. Look, I get the idea that a loft space needs to be aggressively decorated so that it seems like a home and not a warehouse, but Cassandra! This is insane!

18. The Red Vines dispenser in Wayne’s car. An ingenious method for snacking, almost enough to make us forget the fact that Red Vines are disgusting and Twizzlers rule.

20. Alice Cooper. The concert scene goes on too long, but it’s worth it for the backstage scene where Cooper expounds upon Wisconsin history, including its multiple elected Socialists.

21. The Terminator 2 joke. It holds up a good deal better than the Grey Poupon joke does.

22. The movie-camera joke. The conclusion to this movie, as with a lot of joke-heavy comedies, is more than a little perfunctory. Wayne has to get Cassandra back from Rob Lowe’s oily clutches somehow, and the movie just kind of … does it. But it does include the part where a haughty Wayne flips open a movie camera, confident that there is no film inside. The rapid and endless unspooling of the film while everybody just stands there is indescribably good comedy.

23. Also Wayne’s Oscar clip. It’s a cheaper gag, but Wayne splashing water onto his face to approximate tears is a good piece of business.

24. The Clue-esque ending. It imagines a worst possible scenario, a best possible scenario, and a Scooby-Doo scenario.

25. Honestly, Wayne’s World 2 isn’t that bad. Sure it was a major financial fall-back from the original. But how can a movie starring Drew Barrymore as Bjergen Kjergen from the Bjergen fjords, a whole set-piece based on The Graduate, and this eye bit …